TiO2 industry continues to improve: US DuPont CFO

“We are seeing clear signs that this market has stabilised, and we are encouraged by the improving industry fundamentals,“ CFO Nicholas Fanandakis told analysts during DuPont’s third-quarter earnings call.

In the third quarter, DuPont saw its TiO2 volumes increase 25% year on year and 1% sequentially from the second quarter, marking three consecutive quarters of year-on-year and sequential volume growth, Fanandakis said. All regions delivered double digit volume improvements, he added.

Hassan Ahmed, head of research at New York-based equities research firm Alembic Global Advisors, said that DuPont’s third-quarter TiO2 performance signalled that the TiO2 cycle may have bottomed out. Also, DuPont's results "have a positive read" for the upcoming third-quarter reports of TiO2 producers Huntsman and Tronox, Ahmed added.

Earlier on Tuesday, DuPont reported a 38% year-on-year decline in performance chemicals' third-quarter operating earnings, to $254m (€185m), mainly because of lower product prices and higher raw material costs. But despite the decline, the segment performed better than in the second quarter when its operating profit fell 56% year on year.

Performance chemicals’ third-quarter segment sales were down 1% to $1.72bn.